Wild Card

DEADLY PLEASURES MAGAZINE Review by George Easter I’ve been a big fan of this series since its inception with GRIFT SENSE. Swain has a natural gift for storytelling. The various scams are fascinating in their ingenuity and for the clever detection that thwarts them. And Tony Valentine and his crew are among my favorite characters in crime fiction. It’s a shame that this and JACKPOT are only available on the Kindle (or on an IPad with a free Kindle app – which is how I read them). He’s also published two other e-book originals – one a Jack Carpenter novel and the other a stand-alone (his first novel). I’d say that it’s almost worth buying a Kindle to read them, but I’ll let you make that decision. WILD CARD by James Swain Rating: A This novel takes us back to Tony Valentine’s early days as a policeman in Atlantic City, New Jersey and how he came to be an expert on gambling scams and crime. It also treats the reader to his wife, the love of his life. In all the books in the series to this date, Tony is a widower and we know little about his beloved wife and Swain gives us a sweet portrait of that loving relationship. We also see the forces that shape his son, who at this time is just about to enter his teens. Highly recommended. PRODUCT DESCRIPTION From the bestselling mystery series Lee Child calls “Top class suspense ... one of my favorite series.” comes a novel of murder, mobsters and a police detective who doesn’t know when to say quit. It’s 1979, and the Boardwalk Empire of Atlantic City is being torn down, replaced by a glitzy casino and all the terrible crime that goes with it. Cops on the take, mobsters stealing a million dollars a day, a serial killer preying on young women, and more con men and hustlers than you can shake a stick at, define the new Atlantic City. Only one man can clean up the little city by the shore, Detective Tony Valentine. With the mob breathing down his throat and a sadistic killer stalking him, Valentine will put his own life in peril, and risk his career, to insure that justice pre